Candidates to run uncontested in Rockville Centre's June 18 election

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Mayor Francis X. Murray, Village Justice William Croutier Jr., Deputy Mayor Kathy Baxley and Trustee Michael Sepe will run uncontested in a village election on June 18.

The deadline to submit petitions was May 14. Voting will take place at the Recreation Center, at 111 N. Oceanside Road, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eligible voters wishing to cast ballots must be registered with the Nassau County Board of Elections at least 10 days before the election.

Murray and Sepe were elected to their positions in 2011, and each will be re-elected to a third term.

The son of the late former Mayor Eugene Murray, who led the village from 1987 to 2007, Francis was elected to his second term in 2015. A lifelong village resident, he has been a member of the Fire Department since 1972, served as president of the Mercy Medical Center Foundation and the Friends of Mercy, and has co-chaired the RVC Community Fund Golf Outing. He was recently elected to serve as second vice president of the New York State Conference of Mayors.

Sepe, who was also re-elected in 2015, served as an assistant Nassau County district attorney from 1996 to 2003. He founded a law practice in Rockville Centre in 2007 that specializes in federal and state litigation. He also serves as counsel to St. Mark’s Nursery School, is the trustee liaison to the County Legislature and the village police and building departments, and is a member of the Rockville Centre Board of Ethics.

Murray appointed Baxley in June 2017 after Howard, who was moving to Florida, stepped down as deputy mayor. A special election last year, in which Baxley ran uncontested, secured her an additional year in the position. She will soon embark on her first four-year term.

A South Side High School alumna, Baxley served the community for years before becoming deputy mayor. Before teaching at United Church Nursery School, she taught fourth- and sixth-graders at Oceanside School No. 5 and at St. Leo’s Grammar School in Queens. She is a past president of various Parent Teacher Associations, including the Rockville Centre Council of PTAs.

She has expanded her role as deputy mayor, serving as the trustee liaison to the Sandel Senior Center, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center, the village Fire Department, the Recreation Center and the school district.

Croutier has been in his position for three terms, and has served as a special prosecutor for the village and as a deputy village attorney. He has been a lecturer for the Nassau County and New York State Bar Associations, and was chairman of both the Rockville Centre We Care September 11th Committee and the September 11th Memorial Committee. Croutier is also president of the Nassau County Magistrates Association.